Six Nations Rugby 2011

The six nations starts this Friday and in my opinion it promises to be one of the closest for years.

It kicks off this Friday with Gods Country(Wales)vsThe old Enemy(England).

A quick run down of the teams:

Wales:May struggle this year with losing both Gethin Jenkins and Adam Jones from the front row and not really having a settled back row.On the positive side we have a great Center partnership in Hook and Roberts and in Lee Byrne and Shane Williams we have real attacking options.

England:Along with France I'd say they are pre tournament favourites.They were outstanding against the Aussies in the autumn with the back three posing a threat every time they had ball in hand.Downside losing Moody, Courtney Lawes and especially Tom Croft for his line out work.

France:As I said above France are pre tournament favourites with England.They have a really powerful front 5 and backs that can cut any team in the world to pieces. Were I do fear for them is they don't really have a world class fly-half who can dictate the game and if you can put them under pressure early they can buckle.

Ireland:Any team lead by Brain O'Driscoll has half a chance but I think they could struggle. It's going to be a big six nations for the likes of Jonny Sexton, Kevin McLaughlin and Gavin Duffy. Tommy Bowe is going to be a big lose and with a lot of the Irish carrying injuries it could be hard work.

Scotlandark horses of the championship for me and may well upset some of the favourites but only if their pack delivers quick ball.Having Dan Parks in the side can be both a blessing and a curse because of the over reliance of his boot.Need to score more tries in order to compete with bigger teams more consistently.

Italy:You know what you're going to get with the Italians.Big bruising forwards who are up for a scrap and have in captain Sergio Parisse a really top quality leader.

thenastypasty wrote:
Scotlandark horses of the championship for me and may well upset some of the favourites but only if their pack delivers quick ball.Having Dan Parks in the side can be both a blessing and a curse because of the over reliance of his boot.Need to score more tries in order to compete with bigger teams more consistently.

I think Dan Parks proved in the last Six Nations that he can do more than just kick, he was probably the player of the tournament and I think he might do well again.

Wales however are screwed imo, I have even less confidence than usual. The Guardian did a piece that summed up some of the problems faced by Wales and the most obvious one is at the breakdown, we're going to lose lots of penalties and that will be our downfall.